The footwear market has been increasingly expanding and increasingly profitable for manufacturers in the United States and abroad. The various types of footwear and options available in footwear is continually growing to serve an increasingly diverse and demanding consumer market. Today's consumers are presented with a wide variety of footwear from fashion to functional to suit virtually every need or occasion. In the ever growing footwear market, manufacturers, as well as consumers, are continually looking for footwear that differentiates themselves from others and stands out. This was previously accomplished by changing the physical design or appearance of the footwear by altering properties such as the shape, color, size or material of the footwear, for example. However, more recently, footwear manufacturers have begun introducing electronics into their products to achieve this result.
The design of footwear has not changed in basic form over the years. Typical footwear is comprised of essentially two parts: a sole positioned beneath a wearer's foot and an upper connected to the sole that holds it to the wearer's foot. These two components however, may have widely varied forms depending on the particular application of the footwear. For example, soles may be cushioned and supportive for athletic applications such as sneakers; thin and lightweight for recreational applications such as sandals; or rigid with a high heel for formal applications such as men's and women's fashion shoes. Additionally, the uppers may similarly be adapted to the purpose of the footwear. Uppers may consist of sturdy and rugged materials with laces in the case of work boots, or may consist of thin fabric straps as in women's formal shoes, for example. The previous examples merely serve as an introduction as numerous other styles and types of traditional footwear are well known in the art.
Footwear having various types of lighting devices incorporated therein is also known in the art. Lighting devices have been incorporated into a variety of footwear, including dress shoes, athletic shoes, boots, sandals, for example. The inclusion of lighting devices in footwear has been utilized for a number of reasons including permitting the wearer to see or be seen in reduced light situations; to provide special effects during entertainment events; or as an element of fashion on the part of the wearer.
There are several known implementations of footwear lighting devices. One of the most basic implementations involves the use of a light source, such as an incandescent bulb, a neon tube, or a light emitting diode powered by a portable power supply, such as a battery, utilizing a manually operated on-off switch. These elements are connected as an electric circuit and are located in a convenient location in the footwear, such as within the sole, the heel, and/or the tongue structures to provide the desired effect. Examples of these types of devices in the prior art may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,931,893 to Arias et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,253 to McCormick; U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,485 to Goldston et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,486 to Rapisarda.
The prior art also discloses numerous devices utilizing externally attached light sources. Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,103 to Garner; U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,211 to Cheung; U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,089 to Parker et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,899 to McCormick; U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,686 to Parker et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,999 to Barker. A more complex implementation of lighted footwear includes the addition of a switching circuit that switches the light on and off in association with the presence or the absence of the wearer's foot in the shoe, or the contact or impact of the wearer's foot with the ground. Examples of these types of devices may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,008,038 to Dickens et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,133 to Duval; U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,115 to Reichert; U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,861 to Pelengaris; U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,951 to Powell and U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,131 to Rondini.
Additional prior art implementations involve the use of a motion detector that is utilized to detect the angular position of the wearer's foot. The detection of a predetermined angular position of the footwear relative to the plane of the ground causes the light to illuminate. Such a motion detector may involve the use of a “tilt switch,” such as a mercury switch, to sense the angular position of the shoe with respect to the gravity gradient to activate the circuit at a particular attitude of the shoe. Examples of footwear containing lighting circuits activated by the angular position of the footwear include those found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,893,247 and 4,158,922, both to Dana, III, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,009 to Rodgers.
Although prior art footwear that incorporates lighting devices provides additional desirable features over traditional footwear that does not include such devices, a number of shortcomings in the prior art still exist. For example, typical prior art devices incorporate relatively simple lighting sources that are either “on” or “off.” Although the lights may flicker or strobe in connection with the wearer's gait or foot angle, for example, they do not typically vary in color, intensity, pattern or direction. Furthermore, typical prior art devices do not allow the user to adjust or manipulate the illumination, which, may result is a less customizable and wearer-centric experience.
An additional limitation of typical illuminated footwear is that the illumination color, pattern, intensity, etc. is not correlated in any meaningful way to the physical or emotional state of the user. A further limitation is that typical prior art devices simply provide for the appearance of light emitting diodes (“LED”) in the sole of a shoe. The illumination does not blend colors or illuminate the entire sole giving off a general illumination as opposed to merely a row or rows of LEDs.
A broader limitation of traditional prior art footwear that incorporates electronics is that the footwear does not typically incorporate audio displays either alone or in conjunction with visual displays. Thus, typical prior art footwear may be limited in its ability to produce a more engaging audio/visual experience. An additional limitation in typical prior art systems is the inability of the devices in the footwear to sense and adapt to the environment or the wearer. This inability may result in a less wearer-centric or customized experience for the wearer.